Charlie lived about a half a block off 22nd street with his mom and brother in the basement apartment.

When his mom said they were moving into a “garden” apartment he was excited because he never had a garden before. When they moved in he figured out that garden meant they were below the ground and can enjoy all the creepy crawly things of the garden as well as special garden molds in the corners.

Luckily Charlie and his brother Sam had a bunk bed and didn’t have to sleep on the floor.

Charlie chose the top bunk and felt pretty lucky we was as far away from the floor as possible. As he climbed up he stuck out his tongue at his older brother Sam. His brother just nodded and said,

“You’ll see.”

Charlie tucked himself in and felt pretty good for being in a new place.

It wasn’t like any place he had ever lived in before. He wished their family would be “normal” again but it would never be the same. He didn’t want to think about what had happened to dad. Instead Charlie stared into the pipes along the ceiling about 24 inches above his head. He wondered why he had to live like this.

Pic source 1, 2

Then he heard a scurrying noise.

The lights were out so he couldn’t see clearly but a dark object just crawled on the pipes right above his head. Charlie called out,

“Mom! There’s a rat in my room!”

She wouldn’t come. She used to always be there for him. Now she had no strength to even answer. Charlie screamed so much he vomited his Chef Boyardee ravioli.

Sam got up and yelled at Charlie,

“Would you just stop! It’s difficult for all of us. You think that just because you’re little and cute everyone should help you. Just look at this mess! What the f--- is in your mind Wiener.”

Charlie just cried with his face in the pillow. Nothing could be worse than this cellar. He wanted to sleep but couldn’t sleep so freaked out every tick of the clock made it worse. Then his brother who was so angry was fast asleep making a kind of noise like a broken pencil sharpener.

Charlie again looked up at the ceiling pipes. The dark shadowy figure stopped over his head,

“You really spewed chunks this time. Ravioli chunks. What’s wrong with you anyway kid?”

Charlie focused his eyes on the creature and could see that this was the voice of a not so common rat. Charlie just looked dazed and pale. The rat spoke again,

“You know what you need kid is a little fresh air. “Here follow me?”

“What?”

“It’s for your own good.”

Charlie couldn’t sleep anyway so he followed the rat to the foot of the bed. “Now jump!” Charlie shrugged his head and looked down at his brother Sam. “Don’t worry. He won’t wake up. Just jump.”

Charlie smiled and though, “What the heck?...

“If I break a bone I will get a vacation to school and my own bed in the hospital.” Charlie jumped expecting to hit the cement floor. He knew what it felt like to make contact when all the world spins and the pain is so serious that it cannot even begin to be felt in complete nausea. He knew that feeling before from that day. But the past is behind and now close to the floor at the point he should hit he kept falling. The hard concrete floor opened up to welcome him as molecules diffused Charlie together with the rat were taken deeper and deeper into the floor.

Everything happened so fast Charlie could not tell what was going on.

It was as if time was standing still. There was no noise from the ticking clock or his brother snoring. Everything was a blur and then lowing the blur slowed down and he could see colors of green and blue. The rat and Charlie landed in a patch of blue grass. The grass was actually blue and the air was warm and moist like you could eat the air. Charlie liked this place and as he looked around he noticed everything had a tinge of green. The clouds were like green marshmallows and the sky was a green haze of life.

Charlie who had lost his appetite after throwing up on the bed now suddenly felt hungry. The rat noticed and said,

“Go ahead eat up the grass.”

Charlie thought this was ridiculous but tried anyway and yes this grass had a texture not like any grass he had ever felt before it was so soft and spongy like a sponge cake and tasted sweet and as soon as he took a bite he felt strong. He felt better than he ever felt in his life. He was ready to take on the world but there was no world. He looked around and there was just the rat and him and hills of blue grass and green sky.

The rat said,

“Hey kid, since you got your strength back let’s go in a little deeper. But this will take some effort. Follow me.”

The rat began to dig through the grass and the earth opened up to a spectacular purple glow. There was a village and he could here sounds. He saw people about his size but a little smaller. These were walking rats. Then he looked at his partner. This rat did not look the same in this world. He stood on two legs and bounced around like you would see an Easter Bunny bounce. The rat bounced them over to a small hut and opened the door.

“Welcome to my humble abode.”

Charlie chuckled. He had never felt so welcomed in his life.

They sat on the sofa and talked and laughed. Charlie found out that the rat’s proper name was Timothy and his wife’s name was Dorcas. This made Charlie laugh more. Charlie said, “Then is your wife a dork?”

Dorcas spoke up saying,

“My darling Charlie and are you not in fact a Chuck?”

Timothy laugh,

“I think in fact you are a fart.”

Charlie didn’t want to go back to that world above where gardens have no grass and bugs crawl up your ass. But Dorcas told him,

“The magic is wearing out. You must return to your own world or all will be lost.”

Charlie confessed,

“I do not know the way back.”

That’s simple my lad Timothy laughed.

“You can never go back the same way you came. You must go back through the door.”

Then Timothy moved the rug from the floor and there was a small trap floor. A strange thing happened in the time Charlie spent in the rat’s home. He felt almost rat size and through the small trap door he went. Soon he lay in his bed. The smell of his room was clear. He could hear the sounds of the clock ticking and his brother snoring again. Charlie put his face in the pillow and sighed. Back home again?

This story was a written in response to @tygertyger's electric dreams short story writing contest. Another contest I almost forgot about to the last minute.

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QTTA: (QUESTION TO THINK ABOUT)

Do you know what happened to Charlie?

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